Captain America Rides a Harley

captain-america-harleyAnyone who watched Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier in the theaters (or purchase the DVD/Blu-Ray in the next few weeks) saw Steve Rogers/Captain America (played by Chris Evans) team up with super spy Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson) and new ally Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) to defeat the evil forces of HYDRA and the Winter Soldier.  At one point in the movie, Captain America rides a motorcycle to escape from HYDRA?s forces.  Most non-bikers possibly paid no attention to the bike, but motorcycle enthusiasts probably spent those scenes trying to see exactly what kind of bike the Avenger was riding.  The answer: a Harley-Davidson Street 750.

The Harley-Davidson Street 750 was revealed in November of 2013 the International Motorcycle Exhibition in Milan.  It's the first completely new model created by Harley in 13 years and the first lightweight bike the company has produced since 1974.  The bike was created for urban environments.  It's a bike for commuting or riding through the city.  The 750 features a brand new powertrain: a 749 cc displacement version of the 60 degrees SOHC V-twin Revolution X engine.   The 750 was produced at Harley?s Kansas City plant and at the company?s India subsidiary located in Bawal.  Because the Street series is designed as an entry-level motorcycle, it's actually priced very low.

Captain America and Harley-Davidson

When Captain America was first introduced in Marvel Comics in 1939, he was often seen riding a motorcycle.  In fact, more often than not, the motorcycle was specifically drawn to reflect one of the more popular Harley-Davidson models being produced at the time.  Marvel did this because Captain America stood for all things American, and since Harley was the main U.S. motorcycle manufacturer, it made sense to have Cap prefer their bikes.  Both Harley and Captain America represent the American ideals of freedom.

In the 2011 movie Captain America: The First Avenger, much of the movie took place during World War II.  To match this period, Marvel created a motorcycle for Captain America that resembled the 1942 Harley-Davidson bikes that were used during the war.  The bikes were actually heavily modified versions of the 2010 Cross-bones.  Captain America was also seen riding a Harley in the 2012 blockbuster The Avengers.

The 2014 Captain America: The Winter Solder film took place in modern times, so Harley was free to give the Avenger a brand new model.  Harley decided to use the film to launch the Street line.  The movie also featured the Harley-Davidson Breakout motorcycle.  This bike was used as the daily-rider motorcycle for Steve Rogers when he wasn't working as Captain America.

The partnership between Marvel and Harley-Davidson will not end with the second Captain America film.  The two businesses plan to continue providing Captain America (and possibly other characters) with awesome motorcycles to ride in future movies.  It's been rumored, for example, that Scarlet Johansson's character will be riding Harley's first electric motorcycle in the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron.  Harley fans will have to wait until May of 2015 to see what this bike looks like.

 

And for all you Harley enthusiasts out there, check out our Harley-Davidson-related motorcycle patches right here.

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